Fridge / Bates Motel

• Fridge Brilliance: Norma always asks Emma questions about her Cystic Fibrosis. It seems like she is curious since most of the time, she's ok with Emma being friends with Norman, but any fan of the original Psycho would know that she's jealous of any woman that even talks to Norman. So when she's asking how long Emma has to live with that condition, she's really setting her watch so she can wait for Emma to die, so she doesn't have to kill her.
• Fridge Logic: How is Norma still alive? Bad guys will attack her kids to get to her, intimidate her by... digging really deep holes on her property, indulge her stupid whims to make fun of her for trying to play a game that's out of her league, and just indulge her whims in general. She's deeply disturbed, at this point there have been several people noting her unhealthy relationship with her son, and in general her behavior is erratic and abusive all around. It would be fine if people avoided her because that would be the sane thing to do, but people are constantly reaching out to her and getting either slapped away or put on the spot with at best inconsiderate demands, but the consequences never seem to stick with her in a meaningful way. It's really hard to keep feeling bad for her when the only bed she ever has to lie in once she makes it is the one she sleeps in with Norman.
  • As of 4x09, she's no longer alive.
    • Well, yeah, because Norman kills her, it's a foregone conclusion because of the original film. My question is more of how does the entire rest of the cast justify not killing her up until that point.
• Fridge Brilliance: In the original film it is stated that Norman killed his mother when he poisoned her and her lover in bed. And that still happened, only Romero wasn't the lover in Norma's bed... Norman was.
• Fridge Horror: Mother starts talking to Norman about how they're two parts of the same person and how Sam Loomis is exactly like Sam Bates, Norman abusive father who Norman killed in a trance back before the pilot started, convincing Norman to kill him in the shower, and Norman does, saying after the deed is done and Sam is dead, 'Oh Mother, what have I done?'. Norma cleverly and chillingly manipulated Norman into killing Sam as punishment for both men, but mostly towards Norman, who'd pointed out earlier in the episode how she was not real and could not control him, showing that she CAN control him, like a puppet in fact, and the worst part? She managed to make Norman think he is a psychotic murderer no matter what.